Dear TEF Planning Meeting Participants ---- Sunday, June 20, 2010 It has been just a little over three weeks since we all left Geneva and the interesting discussion and thinking that was the “Transformative Education Forum” planning meeting. My own travels took me from Geneva to London, to Washington, DC and the National Conference of the United Nations Association of the USA and meetings about Education on Capitol Hill. Leonard went from Geneva to London then to Stuttgart for meetings with AfriCom and a new model of how to teach the military better cultural competencies for conflict resolution and problem solving. Foard and Rosa I know, went on to important learning – Rosa in an Algerian Refugee Camp – Foard in the first ever of his lifetime travels abroad, to Budapest. Jim Callahan used his time wisely to meet with the IPCC in both Geneva and Bern and others concerned with Climate Change issues, Kristen Von Hoffman to get back to her 5th graders in Boston, Ajume I think headed to Cameroon and an orphanage he supports, Rebecca to plan for her thesis work re: rural countryside schools in Brazil. Mustafa was headed out to more meetings in Europe then back to Jordan, Walter to Germany, Sadi back to Saudi Arabia, Ken back to India and Khalid Khalifa met with Len and then I think headed back to the University of Bahrain! Those are just the ones I know about: all of us dispersed to the far corners of the world. If I had taken a handful of golden glitter and flung it on a world map it might have represented how the ideas that we just began in a room at the US Mission in Geneva, went forward and out with us into our world. But to end up where? I myself am a great believer in the energy and power of human ideas – especially ideas for a better world, a healthier humanity. But energy is most powerful when concentrated, at least in possible directions of effect. Thus the “next steps” for the TEF: 1) The Website: Using this great tool to stay connected: I have decided to post the “notes” of the TEF meeting in their rough and most primary form on the Website. I had asked both Rosa and Foard, our two Research Assistants, to do their very best to get people’s words and ideas “verbatim” as I wanted the “raw” rather than processed discussion and I wanted the names next to the ideas, to know their genesis. I feel they both did such a good job, I am going to post both sets in their entirety, for interest sake. These “raw” notes, posted within the next couple of days, will be removed when a final synthesis of the meeting is posted sometime in mid-July, but I think all might enjoy looking at the actual words and ideas as they came forth, until the point when the website goes “live”. 2) “TheTEF” Google Group: Using this to stay in “communication”: We are going to start a “Listserve” via e-mail of all the actual TEF participants. It will actually be done in the form of a TEFGoogleGroup. Invitees (those in“cc”line) are “invited” to join on as well but must express their interest in joining in order not to “clog” e-mails of those not interested in the Transformative Education open discussion. Please do e-mail me: june_gorman @sbcglobal.net to be included on this TEFListServe. Any actual Attendees (those in “to” line) to the TEF in Geneva are automatically on the ListServe and need to notify me only to be removed. 3) Determination of time and place for the next TEF meeting: At this writing there have been three offers of “hosts”: Bahrain, Spain and Jordan -- all wonderful and exciting demonstrations of interest and support to go forward. But there is also strong discussion of coordinating the best logistics and funding if the next TEF is set in Monterey with a possible video-teleconference link to other spots on the globe. There will be a committee set up to work out the logistics and details of these possibilities and anyone who is interested on serving on that committee should reply to the TEF googlegroup with that interest. 4) Going forward with “Next Steps”: At this point, our job is to keep the ideas about the TEF going forward in the world and start thinking in terms of others critical to the next conversation – particularly others from areas or subgroups least represented. As those names occur to you, please send them along to me, to be added to the “next” TEF possible invitee list. The “conversation” then, is now in all our hands and the spreading of the ideas and the excitement also ours to facilitate together. Thank you all for your participation and interest at a potentially “transformative” meeting on what education in this new world could truly aspire to be. It was a special time and a joy meeting all of you; every one of you that added so much that was critical to this beginning. Sincerely, June Gorman Educator/Educational Theorist Education Chair, UNA-USA Council of Chapters and Divisions (UnitedNationsAssoc.) Board Project Director for Outreach, International Model United Nations Assoc. (imuna.org) Steering Committee, (UN Global Compact) K-12 Sector for Sustainability Education (K-12SustainabilityEducation) TEF Home